Dr Ginders, the medical officer at the government sanatorium at Rotorua, which is situated in the middle of a large native district, gives, in a Report recently presented to parliament, a graphic and at the same time horrifying account of ‘How the Maoris live.’ Referring to their sleeping-huts, he says: ‘Being curious to know something of these hotbeds of disease, I entered one at seven A.M. before the occupants had turned out. I have no wish to repeat the experience. This was quite a small family affair, fifteen feet long by ten feet wide. It contained twenty individuals of both sexes and all ages, who had spent the night—say ten hours—in it. The cubic air-space per head was about such as would be afforded by a comfortable full-sized coffin. How they can exist under such circumstances is one of the mysteries of Maori nature. Fortunately for them, these sleeping-places are built of pervious material, through which the outer air must filter, and all the more rapidly from the fact of the great difference of temperature between the external and internal air.’ After reading this extract, most people will be inclined to say that it is not necessary to look any further for the cause of the gradual dying out of the Maoris. It is some satisfaction to reflect that the imported diseases and vices are playing only a minor part in decimating the race. Of the diseases introduced by Europeans, typhoid and measles seem to have been the most destructive, especially the former. The only imported vice, according to Dr Newman, that has in the least degree helped to hasten the disappearance of the race is drunkenness. The mortality among children, from the neglect or ignorance of parents and the insanitary conditions in which they live, is appalling, and until something can be done to check it, any hope of preserving the race must of course be abandoned. The advent of Europeans has undoubtedly brought with it many causes likely to operate unfavourably on their dark-skinned brethren. Some of these have already been mentioned, drink unquestionably occupying a bad pre-eminence.